Identify core ICU needs, ensure compliance, top court tells states & UTs

The Supreme Court has asked all states and union territories (UTs) to prepare a “realistic and practical” action plan to implement guidelines necessary as a minimum standard for intensive care units.

A Bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice R Mahadevan directed health secretaries of states and UTs to convene meetings of experts within one week to prepare practical action plans and complete the entire exercise in three weeks.

“We expect the exercise to commence immediately and the first meeting to be held within one week from today. We direct that the meeting shall be attended personally by the additional chief secretary/secretary ... heading the department of health and medical education in the states and the UTs,” it said.

The states and UTs must identify five essential requirements focusing on manpower and equipment, it said, stressing that the focus should be on what’s “absolutely essential and mandatory” for ICU functioning, the Bench said in its April 20 order.

Ordering them to put in place a clear strategy for implementation as also a mechanism for monitoring and compliance, the top court asked them to commence the exercise immediately.

Such a plan should be realistic and practical, it said and ordered that copies of the guidelines must be shared with all states and UTs.

The order came on a 2016 petition related to medical negligence in private hospitals and the absence of uniform standards for ICUs.